Foreign Artist Nails Modern Japan in Watercolors

Forgive the Miyazaki-ness of the following beautiful watercolors – while it’s certain Polish artist Mateusz Ubanowicz was more than a little inspired by His Greatness (possibly in hopes of taking the Miyazaki throne in 40 years when Miyazaki himself actually – for serious you guys – retires), in addition to a handful of other famous anime artists, these portraits of everyday life in modern Japan are the most beautiful, somehow haunting depictions of Tokyo and its surrounds we’ve seen since those 8-bit GIFs we showed you a while back.

As Kotaku points out, Mateusz, as a long-term resident of Japan, manages to cut through the usual stuff that foreign artists and photographers get hung up on – the neon lights, the cosplayers, the temples and whatnot – to get to the meat of what Japan really looks and feels like to live in. Take a look: